List all hidden folders/files in Windows (7)?

A long time ago, I remember hiding some really personal files on my computer. Something that nobody could ever find, so I buried them down pretty darn good.

Now to my problem, I don't remember where.

Do anyone know a way to scan a drive and list all hidden folders and/or files?

I know how to view hidden files in Windows, but as far as I know, there is no way to search for them? I've been looking for a program, but I couldn't find one - and now I'm here, asking the experts. ;)

I'd really appreciate any tips.

4 Answers

Open a command prompt and change directory to the root of your drive. Then run:

dir /S /A:H > hidden.txt

This will get you a list of all of the hidden files on that drive and save that list in a file called hidden.txt.

Note: This does NOT search for all hidden files NAMED "hidden.txt".

5

Better late than never, but I found the solution to your problem using only Windows 7 Explorer. Just wanted to get this out there since it's not really documented.

Once you've already enabled "Show Hidden Files and Folders", in your Explorer search box type "attributes:2" (without the quotes). This will search the entire tree for all files marked hidden. The number "2" is a number representation of the file attribute "hidden".

This link gives you a list of all the different number codes and how they translate into file attributes.

This post led me to finding the answer.

1

Use everything. If you remember a small piece of a filename, it will help you narrow it down pretty quick.

1

Go get Total Commander, enable the hidden and system files setting, and run a search. It's relatively fast (quicker than Windows 7 built-in search in my opinion), and as long as you know part of the file name, you should be fine.

1